Talk:Philippine mahogany

Does this actually merit an article?

The term 'Philippine mahogany' when used to refer to dipterocarp lauan (or more properly "lawaan") wood is used only in the US. The usage of the term is not global. Meanwhile, there is actually a species of tree known as the 'Philippine mahogany', Toona calantas, which actually belongs to the mahogany family. Philippine mahogany should thus be redirected to that. This article should be a subsection of Mahogany and not separate.--Obsidi♠n^Soul 03:41, 22 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it is a term that is very widely used in US, and has been for a long time. The idea to connect this with mahogany is very misleading, as this has nothing to do with mahogany. I tried to find sources that use "Philippine mahogany" for Toona calantas, so as to establish usage. This proved to be not doable. Presumably, somebody, somewhere has used it so (Google gives a lot of hits of it occurring in dictionaries), but there are not enough clues to show who actually uses it. It will be very rare. It is not used "horticulturally" as Toona calantas is not grown in gardens. Ibbel (talk) 18:24, 2 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I repeat, it is never referred to as 'Philippine Mahogany' in the Philippines or anywhere else for that matter, it's known overwhelmingly as 'Lawaan'.

'Philippine Mahogany' is a U.S. market usage only and misleading. The name has no botanical relevance. The content is best placed on the respective correct articles. There is already a correct article for Red Lauan, all of this should be placed there, retaining this simply as a disambiguation page. It does not deserve a separate article as that is giving it undue weight and is quite redundant.

'Mahogany' here specifically refers to either the Calantas (also known as Toona, or Toon) or imported Swietenia spp. Both are true members of the Mahogany family, and Calantas is native to the Philippines and the Malesian ecoregion. Yes it's rarely referred to as 'Philippine Mahogany', but it is its botanically correct common name, and that supersedes a trade name, I'm afraid.

Additions to this page have all been either about Mahogany proper or the Red Lauan. All of which are incorrect and confusing, defeating your purpose. Place them in the proper subsections, not a separate article. I have reverted it back to a disambiguation page.

See a similar example of this at African Mahogany.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 10:45, 27 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Additionally, all the previous content is unreferenced.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 10:49, 27 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Actually the Red Lauan is leading to the wrong species. Shorea teysmanniana does not occur in the Philippines and Red Lauan should link to Shorea polysperma Sepilok2007 (talk) 08:08, 16 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You say (and repeated) that Lawaan is "never" referred to as Philippine Mahogany, which is interesting, because I met a girl who lives in the Philippines and she inherited a mahogany plantation there, where they grow Narra, Brazilian mahogany, and Lawaan, which THEY also refer to as either Lawaan, "Native Mahogany" or often times "Philippine Mahogany". They themselves (the workers and locals in her region) use those to differentiate between the Brazilian and the Lawaan. So to say (and repeat) that it is "never" referred to as Philippine mahogany is a little wrong. I'm only on this page because of my interest in the trees they are growing. We are now engaged, and I will be living and working there a lot, so am trying to bring myself up to speed on the varieties.James Dylan (talk) 00:53, 16 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User:Jdylan, in case you haven't realized it yet, I am Filipino. My previous complaint was because of the old content of this article which purely discussed how Philippine mahogany is not a true mahogany, speaking only from the American context. Now that the article has been turned into a common name index, it's irrelevant. But I'll humor you for a bit:

"Lauan" or "Luan" is English. It's pronounced "loowan", and was derived from Tagalog in the 19th century. It's a corruption of the native name. Something that should be obvious given that three vowels in succession do not exist in our languages (the only exceptions being affixes to words which already begin or end in two vowels). The middle vowel is always replaced with w or y per convention.

The real local name for Shorea species is Lawaan, hence the pronunciation you are hearing. Also, more accurately, it's "lah-waʔ-an". Glottal stop between the two a's, and don't lengthen the vowels. Lawaan is the far more familiar name for us Filipinos. A name that the average American has never encountered before.

Which brings us to the next point: your fiancee's family likely refers to it as "Philippine mahogany" in your presence only because it's English and more familiar to you. The exact same reason why it is sold as such in the US markets. Furthermore, they probably identify it as such only to differentiate it from the Brazilian mahogany; i.e. it's the same thing as saying "native mahogany" or "local mahogany."

Regardless, again, it's irrelevant. The main concern here is clarity. We identify all the species associated with a given common name, and sort them by likelihood of them being the subject the reader is looking for. Common names have never been set in stone, hence why confusion like this is so prevalent among laymen.-- OBSIDIAN†SOUL 05:35, 16 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. Congratulations on the engagement. :P -- OBSIDIAN†SOUL 05:46, 16 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]